Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
5. SOCRATES 470-399 BC
Though Socrates himself wrote nothing, his teachings, recorded in the writings of
historians and especially his pupil Plato, have earned him the title of the forerunner
of Western philosophy. At the height of the Golden Age of Athens, the original mar-
ketplace philosopher debated the great meanings in the Agora, and was eventually
tried and put to death for corrupting the Athenian youth (for further details see
So-
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6. ARISTOPHANES 447-385 BC
The greatest comic playwright of Greece was a welcome breath of fresh air after the
age of the great tragedians. Aristophanes' raunchy, hilarious
Lysistrata
, in which the
women of warring Sparta and Athens refuse to sleep with their husbands until they
stop fighting, is one of the greatest anti-war messages of all time.
7. PLATO 428-348 BC
If Socrates was the forerunner of Western philosophy, Plato was the foundation. His
works, from his early dialogues reprising Socrates' teachings, to later masterworks
such as the seminal
Republic
, comprised the backbone of every major intellectual
movement to follow.
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8. ARISTOTLE 384-322 BC
After studying with Plato, Aristotle tutored Alexander the Great. He later set up the
Lyceum, a competitor to Plato's Academy. His
Poetics
is still one of the most im-
portant works of literary criticism, and his
Nichomachean Ethics
among the greatest
treatises on ethics.
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9. NIKOS KAZANTZAKIS 1883-1957
Millions have been drawn to the strange, joyous, bittersweet spirit of modern Greece
as depicted in Kazantzakis' most famous work,
Zorba the Greek
. Darker in mood is
the
Last Temptation of Christ
and best of all is his audacious continuation of the fun-
damental Greek tale:
The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel
.
